News from Walford way today begins with Jake Wood, who’s been telling Inside Soap magazine that in forthcoming weeks, we’re going to find out what his character, Max Branning’s big secret is…

As viewers will know, mention has been made of something that Max has done in the past, which his brother Derek (Jamie Foreman) knows about, and which clearly, he’s holding over Max’s head, ready to use against him should it become necessary.

Whatever it was, it happened when Max left the Square last year – after Tanya (Jo Joyner) told him their affair was over when she discovered she had cancer – when Max went to stay with Derek…

Of the plotline, Jake – who’s also starred in Minder, Only Fools and Horses, Murder in Mind, London’s Burning, Inspector Morse, One Foot in the Grave, Red Dwarf, A Touch of Frost and Doc Martin – said, “The story will emerge – and it’s incredibly exciting.

“There’s a story concerning Max and Derek which is set to be long-running, and everything will be explained.

“Jamie Foreman and I are in on it, and we’ve got a firm sense of what Max and Derek got up to.”

And another soon-to-be Walford resident, Lorraine Salter, has more than a few secrets up her sleeve too…

Victoria Alcock, who plays the errant mum of Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton) has told TV Choice magazine that she thinks Lorraine is a damaged person herself, and has therefore brought her daughter up the only way she knows how; neglectfully.

She explained, “You’re not just made that way, something happens to make you like that.

“I reckon she was abused, and the abused often then become the abuser, and unfortunately that vicious circle has not been broken.

“I’ve tried to play her with a few levels.”

We’ll see Lorraine for the first time in the episode that airs on Thursday, March 1 at 7.30pm on BBC1.